Navigation

A suspected people smuggler was killed early on Tuesday while trying to ram a Greek Coast Guard vessel off the coast of Kos, in the southeastern Aegean.

Coast Guard officers started chasing the smuggler, thought to have been a Turkish national, when he refused to stop his boat despite receiving a signal to stop by Greek authorities. The smuggler then tried to ram his vessel against the Coast Guard's boat four times, prompting officers to fire in the air as a warning. It appears that one of the shot ricocheted and hit the smuggler. A coroner on the island was to determine the cause of his death.

According to sources, the smuggler had dropped off seven irregular migrants at the island's coastal resort of Psalidi before setting off again toward Turkey.